In an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla, Shahid Kapoor revealed why he didn’t want to do Kabir Singh initially. It was his wife Mira Rajput who insisted that he should do the film.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2019 film Kabir Singh, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani, was released. The movie was a remake of Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey’s Arjun Reddy, a Telugu film directed by Vanga. Shahid Kapoor explained his reasons for initially declining the role of Kabir Singh in an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla. His wife Mira Rajput persuaded him to act in the movie.
Shahid Kapoor on why he didn’t want to do Kabir Singh initially
Shahid Kapoor recalled watching Arjun Reddy for the first time with his wife Mira Rajput. “It (Kabir Singh) is a remake, so I saw Arjun Reddy. Somebody had sent that to my house and I remember me and Mira were sitting and watching the movie. I saw the movie, and I was like ‘This is a damn cool movie, man! This film has done everything that you’re not supposed to do in a movie. And still I’m loving this guy. He’s doing everything a nice guy is not supposed to do. This is so cool, how is this guy like this?'”
Shahid added that it had been sent to him because someone wanted to make a Hindi remake. At that time, remakes weren’t all that popular. Shahid recalled that he was initially reluctant to do it. “My first answer was ‘no way am I doing this movie.’ Because this guy is a newcomer and he has done such a good job.” He explained, “What happens is when you see somebody for the first time on camera, whatever whoever they are, their personality blends into the character they’re playing. Because you don’t know them personally. So the way you accept them is like total. Because it’s the first time you viewed them, loved them and everything about them is great because they haven’t made their mistakes yet. But then you discover they’re not perfect, they make terrible movies. Then they have to go and do a really good movie for you to say ‘now I know why I like this guy’.
Shahid Kapoor reveals his wife Mira Rajput asked him to do Kabir Singh
Shahid further added, “So I was like this guy has done his first film. I have worked in so many movies. The way he personifies this character, I don’t know if I’ll be able to because people have already seen me in many different characters. And I finished my whole gyaan, syaing that ‘this is my reason, Mira. Mujhe ye film nahi karni chahiye. (I shouldn’t do this film)’.
Shahid then spilled the beans on Mira’s reaction, and how she convinced Shahid to do Kabir Singh. “She just kept looking at me and after 5 minutes she was like ‘just shut up and do it. It’s the perfect film for you’. I was like ‘really?’, she was like ‘Yeah. People love to see you in love stories, people love to see you in messed-up characters. This has both! Just do it!’ Her thinking was so simple and I had overcomplicated it for myself and I guess it was good I did Kabir Singh.” He concluded that it worked out really well for him.
